Mel Johnson Professional Employer Consultant and Contributor on the Price of Business on Business Talk 1110 AM KTEK (on Bloomberg’s home in Houston) recently interviewed Owner Raul Luis of Bad Azz Burritos in Saginaw TX just north of Fort Worth. Raul and his family has been in the industry for years. Here’s his story and hear how the name Bad Azz Burrito was birth.

Give us a brief story about your company?

Bad Azz Burrito is a fast casual authentic Mexican food restaurant we cook many meals to order in a timely fashion and give our customers options to build their own meals. We have developed our concept from visiting many food eateries in the Los Angeles area, which we consider the melting pot of latin food. Los Angeles is the birth place of the burrito, the capital of the street taco vendor, and the area where the food trucks evolved from roach coach status to an acceptable gourmet food on wheels. Every culinary region from mexico and latin America is respresented in the city. We have taken traditional recipes and fused them with other ingredients and developed our menu. We have taken ideas and concepts that have worked well in LA and introduced them to our customers in the Fort Worth Area. We make burritos for individuals or for groups up to 11lbs. Our customers are able to participate in food eating contest with friends or family. We here at Bad Azz Burrito believe that every meal is a great excuse to have a little fun.

How did the idea of opening a burrito restaurant come about?

We started selling food out of our house, as children we would walk into factories and take orders and fill them. We operated from home for about 10 years , we then opened our first full service restaurant “Chalios”. It grew in popularity and we were able to expand and open other restaurant locations. We then began to experiment and open other concepts. On a visit to texas we felt there was a need for Mexican food in texas using the cooking fusion techniques that we learned while on Los Angeles. We opened two chalio locations in Fort Worth, while in fort worth we visited local eateries. We ran into a local chain of restaurants, with a build your own concept. We had an idea we knew we could elaborate on the concept and make it better. So we opened a build your own meal fast casual restaurant. Unfortunately, we choose a name that had been trademarked, we received a cease and disest order. While serving our burritos a customer walked in to the restaurant and he told us “Wow that was a Bad Azz Burrito” and that was the defining moment that gave birth to the Bad Azz name.

Tell us about the new location

We are currently in Saginaw Texas bordered, by the city of Blue Mound, a blue collar area where there is a large concentration of factories, and some homes. We feel that we are challenged on a daily basis by trying to expedite every order in a timely fashion without compromising the quality of the meal. Our core customers have time restrictions they want to eat a good filling meal. This has posed as a challenge that we must be able to overcome. This has helped us develop our processes and procedures which will benefit Bad Azz Burrito during our expansion goals and allow us to become more competitive in the tough restaurant industry. We have identified some opportunities for growth; We are getting ready to roll out a drive thru service along with online ordering to help expedite our customers’ needs in the area and fuel our in store growth. This location is also a bigger foot print with a larger floor plan which may allow us to offer our customers alcoholic drinks.

The main reason Bad Azz Burrito stands apart from other restaurants?

First and foremost, our name Bad Azz Burrito sets us apart from most restaurants. The name exudes fun cool and more seriously great tasting authentic Mexican food. With a name like Bad Azz our customers have high expectations of the restaurant. We are aware of that and we make every effort to meet and exceed their expectations. Another thing that sets us apart from other restaurants is our company culture we work very hard on our people and listening skills. We want our employees to exude pride in the task they perform while servicing our customers. We instill in our employees that we are like actors and that the cameras are always rolling so we must be on our A game at all times. We will at times come up short but we must recognize our faults and make all the necessary adjustments to make our customers experience a favorable one. Being happy and positive is contagious. Another factor is the food we have worked feverishly to concoct our menu items by scouring some of the best recipes from different regions of Latin America. We attempt to make every transaction a relationship by knowing our customers.

What part of your job gives you satisfaction?

We get to engage with different people from different walks of life and they share their emotions with us while eating at our establishment. We witness peoples reactions to our food, they express themselves and we visually capture those images and take them with us. After a long day at work one is able to reflect on those emotions. One comes to realize that our customers took some time from their busy schedules while eating at your establishment. They recognize and acknowledge you, they discuss your food, we became the center of their conversation. That is a very powerful one cannot put a price on that. A family laughing while looking with utter amazement at the size of a burrito. Kids yelling and cheering on a contestant taking a food challenge. An older couple shaking their head approving of a burrito comparing it to something they have experienced in the past. Priceless moments that give us the energy to get up in the morning and battle those 12-14 hour days. I was told once “you better love what you do because you will be doing it for a long time” We Love What We Do!